Thursday, December 28, 2006

U.S. Senators--including Kerry and Specter--visit Damascus and Israeli intelligence disagrees over whether there is anything to talk about with Syria

The debate over resuming negotiations between Israel and Syria has led to an open dispute between two of Israel’s intelligence agencies — the Mossad and the military intelligence. The Mossad doubts the sincerity of Assad’s proposals for talks, but Israel’s military intelligence believes that Assad is willing to negotiate with Israel without preconditions.

"In a briefing for the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the director of research for the Israeli military intelligence, Yossi Baidatz, argued that “Syria’s peace signals are genuine.” Following the meeting, Knesset members said that they were confused, since only a week ago the same parliamentary committee heard the opposite view from Meir Dagan, head of the Mossad. In his presentation, Dagan said that every time Syria is under international pressure, “Assad pulls the same rabbit out of his hat — the willingness to enter into negotiations with Israel.”""

 

1 comment:

Jeha said...

They are misleading themselves, at the potential cost of more Lebanese lives. And maybe another 9/11.

My point is simple; with the current regime in place, Syria is too weak.

1- It is far too weak to wage war, which would mean the end of the current regime.

2- The regime is too focused on military patronage for its alawite supporters, and the resulting corruption that IS the system. Its supporters would therefore find themselves "out of the loop" in case of peace, because it would entail necessary economic reforms.